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The Sanilac County Community Mental Health Board awarded the job to Thompson Builders LLC of Snover and Carter Lumber Development Company of Caro because the builder will employ or use the largest percentage of Sanilac County employees, sub-contractors and vendors. Thompson will work with 14 to 16 Sanilac County businesses, for a total percentage of 75 to 80 percent. Some sub-contractors, such as fire suppression, are not available in the county.

In addition, the building committee told the board Thompson comes with an excellent reputation for the highest quality of workmanship.

"Background and quality were primary issues in the eventual decision...Thompson Builders/Carter Lumber Development Company has never failed to complete a contract or taken legal action against the owner of a project. This cannot be said about some of the other bidders," stated Executive Director Dr. Roger Dean.

However, Thompson's bid of $4,372,100 was not the low bid.

The low bidder was from Booms Construction Inc. of Bad Axe with a bid of $4,136,000.

"It's true some of his workers are from Sanilac County but it is paltry by comparison to the numbers and percentage that will be used byÊThompson Builders," said Dean.

Pamar Enterprises of New Haven, at $4,200,000 the second lowest bidder, was eliminated because they would have used the smallest percentage of Sanilac County workers, subcontractors and vendors, according to committee minutes.

The highest bid -$4,450,000 --was submitted by Kolar Brothers Construction Inc. of Palms.

From the beginning the board has sought to make sure the money spent and generated by the project would remain in the community to boost the overall economy in the county.

During the Nov. 5 committee meeting, committee members discussed at great length whether the board was partially responsible for the higher bids due to the requirement of keeping work within the county.

"It is our agency vision that we are not merely just another stand alone organization consumed with our own self interest. Rather, we are active community members who support our communities' needs whenever possible. Therefore, the board placed tremendous importance on how our project was going to benefit our community financially. On this point, Thompson Builders was head and shoulders above all the other bidders," said Dean.

"Further, it is important to put this 'extra' $236,000 into perspective. This money would not be an immediate lump sum removed from our budget as most people might imagine. Rather, it will be spread over the 40-year life span of our total repayment schedule. Thus, it would add an extra $5,000 a year to our regular payments," explained Dean.

The contractor plans on beginning construction as soon as a couple issues are resolved with the Sandusky planning commission. The board asked for a completion date of one year from the contract signing, Thompson believes they will finish the project within nine months.

The mental health agency plans to build a 32,000 square foot one-story handicap-accessible building in Sandusky to consolidate the majority of its programs and offices under one roof. The complex will be located north of the agency-owned Kids' Connection and Ehardt Center building on East Sanilac Avenue.